Our Members

Tony Marks has more than thirty years’ experience of dispute resolution. He was a solicitor and litigation partner at CMS Cameron McKenna from 1983 to 2008 and now practises as an independent mediator and arbitrator. He has sat as sole arbitrator and as Tribunal member in a number of commercial arbitrations and acted as mediator in a wide range of disputes. 

 

He is an accredited mediator with ADR Group, a member of ADR Chambers and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. As a litigation partner, his primary areas of industry specialisation were in financial markets, financial services, corporate and energy disputes, information technology and commodities and futures markets, although he had experience of disputes in diverse business areas.

John Abbott is a former partner at Laytons where he was a Mediator & Arbitrator in the Dispute Resolution team.

John handled a wide range of complex and high-value commercial litigation and international arbitration, often involving multi-jurisdictional issues.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (International Arbitration) and is also an experienced mediator accredited in the UK by the Civil Mediation Council.

With more than 30 years' of experience and expertise, John is a very effective dispute resolution lawyer. In practice, he was a tenacious litigator with the ability to identify key issues early enabling him to resolve issues as quickly and cost effectively as the circumstances allow.

Stephen Bate is a British citizen, Chartered Arbitrator, barrister and accredited mediator, with a UK domestic and international commercial arbitration practice carried on through ARBDB, international arbitration chambers in London. His practice background is as a barrister at the English Bar, with over 30 years’ experience in a range of civil and commercial matters, specialising in media & entertainment law, latterly at 5RB barristers’ chambers until 2017.

Stephen was accredited as a mediator in the UK by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in 2002 and has since mediated approximately 200 cases with values up to £250M in a very wide range of commercial disputes, with a settlement rate of about 70%. His mediation practice is carried out through CEDR: www.cedr.com.

Stephen is listed in Who’s Who Legal 2022 and the Legal 500 2022 as a recommended / leading mediator.

Michael Cover is an English-qualified lawyer and now an experienced independent arbitrator, mediator and adjudicator, dealing with complex UK and international disputes, including on technology, insurance, maritime and international trade, energy and mining, contractual disputes, partnership and shareholder disputes and construction disputes.

Michael was accredited as a Mediator by CEDR in 2002 and has mediated over 250 disputes. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Chartered Arbitrator and has handed down over 120 arbitral awards.

He holds an LLB Degree from the University of Southampton, UK and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Guangxi in Nanning, China.

Julia E. Sullivan is an American lawyer, English solicitor, and international arbitrator specializing in energy, infrastructure, and finance. She is an experienced arbitrator with more than 140 appointments as Tribunal Chair, Tribunal Member, Emergency Arbitrator, or Sole Arbitrator.

Prior to founding her own firm, Ms. Sullivan chaired the Energy Regulation, Markets and Enforcement practice at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP, where she also served on the Steering Committee of the Global Energy & Transactions practice.

Paul Rose is a Chartered Arbitrator, a Chartered Surveyor and an Accredited Mediator with Clerksroom the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and RICS. Paul has mediated some 150 mediations and he has over some 51 years’ broad experience as a Chartered Surveyor both in private practice and in the corporate sector.

Paul is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the President’s Panel of Arbitrators at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and CIArb Disputes Service panel – property. He undertakes arbitrations under the Pubs Code and the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022. He is also a member of the President’s Panel of Mediators at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators as well as RICS Neighbourhood Disputes Panel; and is one of the few people dual qualified as a commercial Mediator and an Arbitrator. Paul is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Dubai Mediation Centre.

Paul is also a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the London Court of International Arbitration and the panel of Arbitrators and Mediators of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration and the Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration.

He is a member of the panel of Mediators at the Dubai Mediation Centre and is a member of the RICS.

Michael Lawrence is an accomplished and experienced construction professional, Chartered Civil Engineer and dispute specialist.

Michael is fluent in Spanish and has extensive international experience, having worked in the UK, Paraguay, Spain, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon and Malaysia.

Michael has worked with and led teams on major projects under the FIDIC “Rainbow” suite of contracts.

Michael is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is actively involved in the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation.

Steffen Pedersen is an international arbitrator and mediator with a focus on maritime and commercial disputes. He has received 169 appointments globally (as of 24/11/2024) in LMAA, SCMA, SIAC, HKIAC, DIAC, AIAC, HKMAG as well as ad hoc arbitrations. He has sat as sole, party-appointed and Chair (presider) and drafted over 30 awards.

A native Dane Steffen is qualified as a lawyer in Hong Kong, England & Wales and Nauru.  He holds degrees from City University, London; City University, Hong Kong; King’s College, London; the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London; and holds an LLM (summa cum laude) in US and environmental law from PACE University in New York.

Patrick is an international arbitrator and commercial lawyer (Dr iur) with a practice spanning Asia and Europe, based in Singapore. He is available for appointments as sole arbitrator, presiding arbitrator, co-arbitrator and emergency arbitrator in institutional arbitrations (including expedited proceedings) and ad hoc arbitrations.

One of the few foreign lawyers in Singapore authorised to practise both Singapore law (in permitted areas) and German law, he combines common law and civil law expertise in advising clients and resolving complex international disputes.

Mark Appel has nearly 40 years of global arbitration and mediation experience, having served in both executive and senior executive positions at the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), leaving ICDR/AAA as Senior Vice President, EMEA in December of 2015.

While serving as an AAA Executive, Mr. Appel personally administered or was responsible for the administration of thousands of commercial arbitrations and mediations.

Mr. Appel is thoroughly familiar with Civil and Common law arbitration and mediation practice and procedure, with over 30 years of experience in training arbitrators and mediators on four continents on behalf of various arbitral institutions, government ministries, Courts and NGOs. 

George Grant FRICS FAiADR FDBF ACIArb is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor, practising Arbitrator, Mediator and Dispute Board Member with over 50 years of experience in the fields of Development & Project Management, Cost Management, Contract Administration, Claims Consultancy, Dispute Resolution and Arbitration.

Thirty of those years have now been spent in the Middle East (7yrs in Oman, 23 in the UAE).

George has held top management positions in leading consultancy and corporate organisations and has completed many assignments throughout the region as well as in India Africa and the Far East.

Richard Price has a background in general commercial litigation, including contract and licensing disputes, becoming regarded as one of the UK’s leading patent and trade mark litigation lawyers.

Working as a neutral in ADR , he brings over 50 years’ experience as a solicitor in commercial litigation, leading teams in landmark cases and heading market-leading IP litigation practices, and spear-heading the Taylor Wessing merger in 2002. He has extensive experience in many jurisdictions including the USA, Hong Kong and Western and Central Europe, as well as the UK.

His practice there covered all aspects of IP law at all levels up to and including the UK House of Lords and Supreme Court, and the Privy Council, leading the winning teams in all four cases there.

Most recently, as head of IP Arbitration and Mediation at CMS London, he focussed on the resolution of disputes in multi-jurisdictional contract, patent, trade mark, passing off and copyright cases across a wide range of sectors.

He has conducted as a neutral both arbitrations and mediations in licensing and contractual disputes, as well as patent, trademark and passing off cases, all being international ones.

Professor Stephen Hibbert is an Australian-qualified lawyer, who is now mostly based in the UAE. Stephen is an experienced arbitrator and mediator.

Stephen is an International Commercial Arbitrator and Mediator, admitted as a Solicitor Advocate in New South Wales, Australia and has been a resident in the Middle East for over 17 years.

Robert has over 35 years’ experience of the construction industry with particular emphasis on all forms of alternative dispute resolution.  After 12 years as a quantity surveyor Robert entered the Bar dealing with civil, landlord & tenant, property and construction law issues whilst also undertaking arbitration and adjudication disputes as the neutral. 

Robert currently practices from SWL Chambers as Counsel representing a variety of clients from numerous industry sectors and is regularly appointed as arbitrator, adjudicator, expert determiner, mediator, and dispute board member through ArbDB Chambers in London.  Robert additionally practices in the GGC Region as Counsel with Al Suwaidi & Company in Dubai specialising in all aspects of the property and construction industry.

Anthony Fincham is a highly experienced and skilled mediator, who was until recently a partner at a leading London Law Firm. Anthony specialises in workplace dispute resolution. He has mediated in a wide range of other types of dispute.

He is a member of the Court of Appeal Mediation Panel and until recently, a Member of the City of London Law Society Employment Committee. Anthony is a former non-executive director of ADR Group and Chairman of ADR London.

Peter McQueen accepts appointments as arbitrator and mediator in respect of cross-border commercial disputes, in particular those relating to international trade and transport. 

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and an Aspiring Full Member of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA).

He has acted as an arbitrator in both ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, including those conducted under the auspices of Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre , the ICC, the LMAA, the Singapore International Arbitration Commission and the Singapore Chamber for Maritime Arbitration. 

He is an arbitration panel member of arbitration institutions in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and United Kingdom.

Geoff is now an independent Arbitrator, dealing with complex domestic and international disputes, including charterparties, contracts of affreightment and bills of lading.

Geoff is one of Australia’s leading transport and commodities lawyers, with more than 25 years’ experience in this field.